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afishinado
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Maryland Will Pay You to Catch, Kill, and Report Tagged Northern Snakeheads
In Maryland, wildlife officials are going to pay anglers to catch northern snakeheads in the Blackwater River and Chesapeake Bay.
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Curious about what's "bs" in that article?Id just cut the tag off the fish then release it back in the water and then collect the bounty. So much bs information in the article .
Yea I don’t see any BS in that article and I believe Dr. Love was one if the authors on the blackwater river study. I have not seen any data on if snakeheads are harming native amphibians yet. As Dr. Love points out the original concerns of large scale negative impacts to native fish are still valid if prey base shrinks. We saw lake trout go in flathead lake and not seem to bother anything until mysis shrimp showed up then they exploded and dominated the whole lake crashing native salmonids.Id just cut the tag off the fish then release it back in the water and then collect the bounty. So much bs information in the article .
What are you talking about? Please elucidate.
“Smallmouth fishermen now looking at a grim future in the susky with invasive flatheads proliferating. We are talking about a fish in smallmouth that takes like 17 years to get trophy size inches, its going to be an interesting next decade or too in the susky.”
Might already be happening?What are you talking about? Please elucidate.
“Smallmouth fishermen now looking at a grim future in the susky with invasive flatheads proliferating. We are talking about a fish in smallmouth that takes like 17 years to get trophy size inches, its going to be an interesting next decade or too in the susky.”
Note that we said “considerations” when we said in the following sentences: “Causes for the present-day lower abundance of smallmouth bass and sunfish in this reach of the Schuylkill River are not known. Habitat change, such as lower densities of aquatic plants, and excessive predation are two current considerations.”First one I know of was found in 2002 in susky. Its been roughly 20 years but I don’t know how long the density has been such that they could possibly exert a negative effect on the ecosystem or SMB i dont know. You would certainly know how quickly their numbers grew better than me. I guess I should have said uncertain future in the susky but the reason flatheads are likely a threat to SMB fishery in the susky is we have seen reports of them harming other Centrarchiformes when invasive outside the susky when introduced.
I found this report put out by this guy named Mike Kauffman who worked for PAFB and found some likely impact from flatheads on the smallmouth bass population in the Delaware drainage.
The abundance of many large catfish was credited to the favorable habitat of deep pools and slow current in this reach of the river.
A very low number of smallmouth bass and almost no sunfish were collected during the 2005 and 2004 surveys. Smallmouth bass and sunfish population densities were substantially lower than historic levels (1979) when both were abundant and flathead catfish were absent. Causes for the present-day lower abundance of smallmouth bass and sunfish in this reach of the Schuylkill River are not known. Habitat change, such as lower densities of aquatic plants, and excessive predation are two current considerations.
In some southeastern U.S. locations where flathead catfish have been introduced their establishment has negatively impacted riverine catfish and sunfish populations in particular. Since flathead catfish are native to the Ohio and Mississippi River drainages, their presence as an invasive species in the Schuylkill River may be harmful to resident fish, such as resident sunfish species and resident catfish species.
Anglers may access this stretch of river from shore or boat. Shore anglers may gain access to good habitat along the west bank from a parking area near Valley Creek in Valley Forge National Historic Park. Boat anglers may use the National Park Service access area located on the north side of the Betzwood Bridge (Rt. 422). Foot access is also available adjacent to Pawlings Rd. Bridge.
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Channel catfish. Area Fisheries Manager Mike Kaufmann with two channel catfish from the same reach of river in 2004. Note that channel catfish have a forked tail and the fish on the left clearly displays the channel catfish’s characteristic upper jaw protruding beyond the lower jaw.
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Never say never, but I would bet highly unlikely.To be clear smallmouth in susky is death by 1000 cuts in that river. Anyway back to bounty what are chances we see bounty in Pa?? Would be nice to make enough to cover the materials in the flies I breakoff.
The point of this bounty program is to track fish, their location (compared to tagging site), how many tagged fish are successfully caught or uncaught etc. The point of the bounty isn't to reduce numbers, but a side effect is likely to be increased angling pressure, which could result in some reduction of the population. The bounty ensures that anyone catching a tagged fish will report it. In other words, this is a research project.Back to the OP here. Admittedly, I’m not a Snakehead guy, though I don’t have strong feelings on one side of this issue or the other. That said, I found and read the actual MD DNR posting about this program (not a news outlet article).
Do I have this straight?…
MD wants to slow the proliferation of Snakeheads. It is not illegal to release a Snakehead caught in MD, but anglers are “encouraged” to kill any Snakehead they catch. So, MD is going to catch, tag, and RELEASE 500 Snakeheads, and then only pay a bounty on the tagged fish? Why not just kill the 500 Snakeheads you just caught? I assume they’re gonna tag bigger fish and bonk everything else they catch in the process, but still, you’re gonna release 500, presumably mature Snakeheads you just caught?
I guess the idea is to increase Snakehead angling under the assumption that bounty anglers will be killing all Snakeheads they catch, not just the tagged ones, even if they’re not required to?
It says the tagged fish will range from $10-$200. Let’s just assume for a second that all 500 were $10 each. You have the potential invested of spending at least $5,000 on this program. (Granted, all will not be caught, but for the sake of discussion assume they were.) Why not pay $1/Snakehead for the first 5,000 Snakeheads over a certain size caught, killed, documented, and reported period? You get 10x the return on your investment. If it works, and you wanna invest another $5,000, then do it, and so on.
This is silly to the point that I assume I am missing something obvious here, and am ready to have it explained to me.
Bonus Question: Is it still illegal to release a caught Snakehead in PA? I’ve never caught one, but, if still illegal to release one, I would kill it. If legal to release them, I’d probably still keep and eat the first one I caught. They’re supposed to be good right? After that I’d weigh how good they tasted vs. how good their sporting value seemed from the one I caught and go from there. Mmmmm, tasty Snakeheads? So I guess that’s my position on Snakeheads in PA.
Also, nice Cats Mike.